October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826, in Quincy, Massachusetts Terms of office: 3/4/1797 - 3/3/1801 (1 term)
Vice President: Thomas Jefferson
Political Party: Federalist “If human Life is a Bubble, no matter how soon it breaks”. John Adams
John Adams was the 2nd president of the USA. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States. But John Adams’s presidency can have only B-. He was too plainspoken for diplomacy and too honest for politics. Sometimes when he was low, he imagined that he had no friend, that he was a fool to have impoverished himself in the public service, and that posterity would hardly remember his name. But in no mood was he inclined to permit any compromise of American interests as he understood them like in the relationships between France and United States. He also built up the U.S. Navy, fought the Quasi War with France, signed Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, ended war with France through diplomacy.
I think that at first glance, John Adams did not appear well suited for the presidency. Although Adams had been a leading Patriot during the American revolution and had later served as a foreign diplomat, he lacked Washington’s dignity, and most people saw him as a cold and distant person. Still many people respected Adams. They recognized his hard work, honesty, and intelligence.
One of Adams’s first goals as president was to improve the relationship between the United States and France. As far as we remember the France had once tried to hire American privateers to help them fight Great Britain, a practice Washington frowned upon. Adams sent U.S. diplomats to Paris to smooth over the conflict and to negotiate a treaty to protest U.S. shipping. But the peace-seeking mission had failed. Federalists in Congress called for the war.
The relationship between Congress and John Adams were not clean enough. To begin with I should mention that John Adams kept the old cabinet and he passed a lot of acts and made a lot of decisions with Congress. For example, Federalists in Congress down on political opponents with the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were signed by Adams in 1798.These Acts were composed of four separate and distinct units:
The Naturalization Act
The Alien Act
The Alien Enemies Act
The Sedition Act
These four acts were passed to suppress Republican opposition. The Naturalization Act changed the period required to naturalize the foreign born to American citizenship to 14 years. Since most immigrants voted Republican they thought by initiating this act it would decrease the proportion of people who voted Republican. The Alien Friends Act and the Alien Enemies Act allowed the president to deport any foreigner that he thought was dangerous to the country. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. Some of the punishments included 2–5 years in prison and fines of $2,000 to $5,000. Adams had not designed or promoted any of these acts but he did sign them into law. Those acts, and the high-profile prosecution of a number of newspaper editors and one member of Congress by the Federalists, became highly controversial.
The deep division in the Federalist party came on the army issue. Adams was forced to name Washington as commander of the new army, and Washington demanded that Hamilton be given the second position. Adams reluctantly gave in. Major General Hamilton virtually took control of the War department. The rift between Adams and the High Federalists (as Adams' opponents were called) grew wider. The High Federalists refused to consult Adams over the key legislation of 1798; they changed the defense measures which he had called for, demanded that Hamilton control the army, and refused to recognize the necessity of giving key Democratic-Republicans senior positions in the army (which Adams wanted to do to gain some Democratic-Republican support). By building a large standing army the High Federalists raised popular alarms and played into the hands of the Democratic-Republicans. They also alienated Adams and his large personal following. They shortsightedly viewed the Federalist party as their own tool and ignored the need to pull together the entire nation in the face of war with France.
I consider one of John Adams’s mistakes is to keep the old cabinet which was controlled by Hamilton, instead of installing his own people, confirming Adams' own admission he was a poor politician because he "was unpracticed in intrigues for power." Yet, there are those historians who feel that Adams' retention of Washington's cabinet was a statesmanlike step to soothe worries about an orderly succession. As Adams himself explained, "I had then no particular object of any of them." Adams spent much of his term at his home Massachusetts, ignoring the details of patronage and communication that were not ignored by his opponents in both parties.
Also the negative outcome was during the war with France. To pay for the new Army, Congress imposed new taxes on property-Direct Tax of 1798. It was the first (and last) such federal tax. Taxpayers were angry, nowhere more so that in southeast Pennsylvania, where the bloodless Fries' Rebellion broke out among rural German-speaking farmers who protested what they saw as a threat to their republican liberties and to their churches.
The most positive outcome of John Adams’s presidency was the piece with France. In February 1799, Adams stunned the country by sending diplomat William Vans Murray on a peace mission to France. Napoleon, realizing the animosity of the United States was doing no good, signaled his readiness for friendly relations. The Treaty of Alliance of 1778 was superseded and the United States could now be free of foreign entanglements, as Washington advised in his own Farewell Letter. Adams avoided war, but deeply split his own party in the process. He brought in John Marshall as Secretary of State and demobilized the emergency army.
I don’t really see any decisions made by Adams or his administration which could influence future presidential administrations or the lives of people in future generations. But I think that the Judiciary Act of 1801 had an influence on the judicial system of the United States. As his term was expiring, Adams filled the vacancies created by this statute by appointing a series of judges, called the "Midnight Judges" because most of them were formally appointed days before the presidential term expired. Most of the judges were eventually unseated when the Jeffersonian enacted the Judiciary Act of 1802, abolishing the courts created by the Judiciary Act of 1801 and returning the structure of the federal courts to what it had been before the 1801 statute. Adams's greatest legacy was his naming of John Marshall as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States to succeed Oliver Ellsworth, who had retired due to ill health. Marshall's long tenure represents the most lasting influence of the Federalists, as Marshall infused the Constitution with a judicious and carefully reasoned nationalistic interpretation and established the Judicial Branch as the equal of the Executive and Legislative branches.
I don’t think that America changed a lot after John Adams’s presidency as he followed Washington's lead in making the presidency. A lot of people believed that he was controlled by Hamilton. Adams continued not just the Washington cabinet but all the major programs of the Washington Administration as well. Adams made no major new proposals. His economic programs were thus a continuation of those of Hamilton. I gave him B- because of his job which was very clean without any serious or visible mistakes but without any influences to make United States better economic or legislatively.
John Adams
October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826, in Quincy, MassachusettsTerms of office: 3/4/1797 - 3/3/1801 (1 term)
Vice President: Thomas Jefferson
Political Party: Federalist
“If human Life is a Bubble, no matter how soon it breaks”.
John Adams
John Adams was the 2nd president of the USA. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States. But John Adams’s presidency can have only B-. He was too plainspoken for diplomacy and too honest for politics. Sometimes when he was low, he imagined that he had no friend, that he was a fool to have impoverished himself in the public service, and that posterity would hardly remember his name. But in no mood was he inclined to permit any compromise of American interests as he understood them like in the relationships between France and United States. He also built up the U.S. Navy, fought the Quasi War with France, signed Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, ended war with France through diplomacy.
I think that at first glance, John Adams did not appear well suited for the presidency. Although Adams had been a leading Patriot during the American revolution and had later served as a foreign diplomat, he lacked Washington’s dignity, and most people saw him as a cold and distant person. Still many people respected Adams. They recognized his hard work, honesty, and intelligence.
One of Adams’s first goals as president was to improve the relationship between the United States and France. As far as we remember the France had once tried to hire American privateers to help them fight Great Britain, a practice Washington frowned upon. Adams sent U.S. diplomats to Paris to smooth over the conflict and to negotiate a treaty to protest U.S. shipping. But the peace-seeking mission had failed. Federalists in Congress called for the war.
The relationship between Congress and John Adams were not clean enough. To begin with I should mention that John Adams kept the old cabinet and he passed a lot of acts and made a lot of decisions with Congress. For example, Federalists in Congress down on political opponents with the Alien and Sedition Acts , which were signed by Adams in 1798.These Acts were composed of four separate and distinct units:
- The Naturalization Act
- The Alien Act
- The Alien Enemies Act
- The Sedition Act
These four acts were passed to suppress Republican opposition. The Naturalization Act changed the period required to naturalize the foreign born to American citizenship to 14 years. Since most immigrants voted Republican they thought by initiating this act it would decrease the proportion of people who voted Republican. The Alien Friends Act and the Alien Enemies Act allowed the president to deport any foreigner that he thought was dangerous to the country. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. Some of the punishments included 2–5 years in prison and fines of $2,000 to $5,000. Adams had not designed or promoted any of these acts but he did sign them into law. Those acts, and the high-profile prosecution of a number of newspaper editors and one member of Congress by the Federalists, became highly controversial.The deep division in the Federalist party came on the army issue. Adams was forced to name Washington as commander of the new army, and Washington demanded that Hamilton be given the second position. Adams reluctantly gave in. Major General Hamilton virtually took control of the War department. The rift between Adams and the High Federalists (as Adams' opponents were called) grew wider. The High Federalists refused to consult Adams over the key legislation of 1798; they changed the defense measures which he had called for, demanded that Hamilton control the army, and refused to recognize the necessity of giving key Democratic-Republicans senior positions in the army (which Adams wanted to do to gain some Democratic-Republican support). By building a large standing army the High Federalists raised popular alarms and played into the hands of the Democratic-Republicans. They also alienated Adams and his large personal following. They shortsightedly viewed the Federalist party as their own tool and ignored the need to pull together the entire nation in the face of war with France.
I consider one of John Adams’s mistakes is to keep the old cabinet which was controlled by Hamilton, instead of installing his own people, confirming Adams' own admission he was a poor politician because he "was unpracticed in intrigues for power." Yet, there are those historians who feel that Adams' retention of Washington's cabinet was a statesmanlike step to soothe worries about an orderly succession. As Adams himself explained, "I had then no particular object of any of them." Adams spent much of his term at his home Massachusetts, ignoring the details of patronage and communication that were not ignored by his opponents in both parties.
Also the negative outcome was during the war with France. To pay for the new Army, Congress imposed new taxes on property-Direct Tax of 1798. It was the first (and last) such federal tax. Taxpayers were angry, nowhere more so that in southeast Pennsylvania, where the bloodless Fries' Rebellion broke out among rural German-speaking farmers who protested what they saw as a threat to their republican liberties and to their churches.
The most positive outcome of John Adams’s presidency was the piece with France. In February 1799, Adams stunned the country by sending diplomat William Vans Murray on a peace mission to France. Napoleon , realizing the animosity of the United States was doing no good, signaled his readiness for friendly relations. The Treaty of Alliance of 1778 was superseded and the United States could now be free of foreign entanglements, as Washington advised in his own Farewell Letter. Adams avoided war, but deeply split his own party in the process. He brought in John Marshall as Secretary of State and demobilized the emergency army.
I don’t really see any decisions made by Adams or his administration which could influence future presidential administrations or the lives of people in future generations. But I think that the Judiciary Act of 1801 had an influence on the judicial system of the United States. As his term was expiring, Adams filled the vacancies created by this statute by appointing a series of judges, called the "Midnight Judges" because most of them were formally appointed days before the presidential term expired. Most of the judges were eventually unseated when the Jeffersonian enacted the Judiciary Act of 1802, abolishing the courts created by the Judiciary Act of 1801 and returning the structure of the federal courts to what it had been before the 1801 statute. Adams's greatest legacy was his naming of John Marshall as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States to succeed Oliver Ellsworth , who had retired due to ill health. Marshall's long tenure represents the most lasting influence of the Federalists, as Marshall infused the Constitution with a judicious and carefully reasoned nationalistic interpretation and established the Judicial Branch as the equal of the Executive and Legislative branches.
I don’t think that America changed a lot after John Adams’s presidency as he followed Washington's lead in making the presidency. A lot of people believed that he was controlled by Hamilton. Adams continued not just the Washington cabinet but all the major programs of the Washington Administration as well. Adams made no major new proposals. His economic programs were thus a continuation of those of Hamilton. I gave him B- because of his job which was very clean without any serious or visible mistakes but without any influences to make United States better economic or legislatively.
Bibliography:
John Adams: party of one/ James D. Grant. – 1st ed
http://www.americanpresidents.org
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/adams/essays/biography/1
http://armstrong-history.wikispaces.com/file/view/President+John+Adams.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams#Presidency:_1797.E2.80.931801
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/johnadams/p/padams.htm